Small Note

Sakura: Thank you so much to those that reviewed last chapter. It appears I had nothing to worry about as there are still plenty of people reading this story. The reviews helped make me feel so much better. I worked extra hard to get this chapter ready for this week so please enjoy!

Chapter 12

Psycho Deck

The three stood in front of the mind controlled ghoul watching him carefully to see what the master of this puppet would do. He had introduced himself as Marik and one of the final holders of a millennium item. But they had no idea what item he held since there were two that Yugi and Yami had yet to see. There was no telling what power either item had but the one Marik had did show to have the power of mind control.

"Yugi his voice is totally different. It's like somebody else took over his body and is talking through him like a microphone." Joey stated still not used to all this strange happenings with magic. He had thought this tournament would be simple with only some thugs called ghouls to deal with. However it appeared these rare hunters had some kind of twisted leader behind them.

"That's right. It's not this man that you hear... taking over a person's mind and controlling their speech and actions as if they were my own. That is the power of the millennium rod." Marik explained to them sounding rather smug with himself.

'This Marik must be the enemy Ishizu mentioned… the man with the seventh millennium item…' Yami said through their link to the pharaoh who he could feel was in agreement.

'Be very careful Yami, with his powers of mind control our true enemy could be closer than we think.'

Yami was sure he was right and that's why he kept Yugi partly behind him. Because he had no clue what this Marik was capable of or whether or not he could try and take over one of their minds. He had no plans for him, Yugi, or any of their friends to become someone's mindless puppet.

"If I must I can step in and personally control all of the rare hunters in Domino City… But they are elite duelist with overwhelming skills, so I doubt I'll have to…" The rare hunter's eyes were only glues onto that of Yugi who normally was not scared of other duelists but this one gave him the creeps.

The overwhelming power to protect kept Yami on edge just thinking of what kind of challenge Marik was issuing his partner. Yugi was the only duelist in this tournament that he knew of that held a millennium item besides Marik himself. And most that he knew with a millennium item were always after another one or wanting to test its power like with Shadi and Bakura. If they were after not only rare cards but the millennium puzzle as well would make Yugi an even bigger target. He felt like there was more to this and he wanted answers.

"Marik!" Yami shouted gaining the attention back onto him, "Why are you really in this tournament? Why are the ghouls here?"

Marik chuckled as he replied, "To gather the God cards. The three ancient cards resurrected in the modern world. According to the ancient Egyptians three stone slabs were said to possess the ultimate power. The one who gathers all three and takes the title of king will be granted the power of darkness."

Yugi reached out and touched Yami's arm gaining his attention, "You don't think this is what Ishizu was talking about do you?"

Yami was sure that could be it but he said nothing about it as he continued to listen as Marik spoke again.

"We ghouls have two of the cards already. The one remaining card is in the hands of someone in this town…"

"You'd think if someone had that card in our town it would be known about." Joey mentioned since their small city wasn't that big and gossip moved like a rapid fire through it. That is unless who ever had it had only come to town recently which was a lot of duelists.

While the three pondered who could have the final card, Marik used his powers to cause the hunter to reach into his deck for something. "Yugi… you just fought the weakest of the ghouls. You were lucky not to face someone stronger. But as long as he lost I will abide by the rules and return the card he stole from your friend and the puzzle cards as well." The puppet reached out to hand both to Yugi, but it was Yami who snatched them up before giving them to his partner. Marik was unfazed by the act as he continued "The game has just begun. A rare hunter with a god card is already lurking in your town. If you meet him even with your skills… it'll be instant death!"

These guys may creep him out but Yugi was the protector of the millennium puzzle and swore to help the once pharaoh find his memories. He would not back down from a challenge, "We'll see about that." He bravely told the other moving to stand beside Yami, "I'm going to put an end to your plan. We have our own goals to reach so you can't stop me. I will defeat you Marik."

"I look forward to it Yugi." Those were his parting words as the guy dropped face first to the ground being released from Marik's control.

Joey took a brave step forward to nudge the guy and check for sure, before stating, "He's out cold." He turned to his two friends, "The power to control people… This guy Marik is tough."

"And it's even worst that we don't know where he is." Yami added in before he looked to his partner. "I don't like it that we have an enemy that we can't see."

Yugi could agree however… "I can't back out Yami. It's not just because of my title, but we have to help the pharaoh anyway we can. We promised him and besides we've been through so much already." He knew the hidden meaning behind Yami's words. It wasn't just about that they couldn't see Marik, but it was also the challenge he issued Yugi. Because he chose to show himself to them meant he was aiming at them for a reason.

Yami sighed, "I know but I still don't like it. Especially when it involves another millennium item…."

"But I won't be alone," Yugi reminded Yami with a smile, before he remembered the card in his hand. Turning to their silent friend Yugi approached him and handed out the Dragon for him to take.

At first Joey looked at the card, before he closed his eyes and turned his head away, "Sorry Yugi, I can't take it." Yugi and Yami were taken aback at the move however Joey did have his reasons as he told them, "If I take that card I feel like I'll just get farther from being the true duelist I'm trying to become. That red eyes black dragon means more to me than any card in the world. It's been my fighting partner for ages. But I've leaned on it for too long. If I accept that card I won't grow as a fighter. Not just that… the way I am right now the card won't want me to have it. So for now I'll leave that card with you."

Yugi watched as Joey pulled out his deck searching for another card, "I put together a new forty card deck for today's tournament. I still have the right to participate with my see through puzzle card…" He found the card he was looking for and showed Yugi, "And for my ante I've got time wizard. The rare card you gave me back in Duelist Kingdom. It will be with these cards that I'm gonna be a true duelist in battle city. And I hope that if I do all right in the tournament and the time comes where I can call myself a duelist, that you'll fight me."

Sure they had had their friendly duels before but this was different. Yugi knew it as a smile lit up his face. "Yes when that time comes I will fight you."

That put them all in better spirits after the little episode with the rare hunter and Marik. Joey was pumped and ready to find his first duelist to fight, biding his friend bye until they met again. Yugi and Yami watched him go wishing him luck in the tournament.

Looking down at the red eyes black dragon, Yugi knew one day Joey would get it back before putting it up in his deck box. It may not be in this tournament but at some point in time he would face Joey duelist to duelist.

"He'll do fine so long as he doesn't run into his boyfriend."

"Yami!" Yugi scowled his own lover grabbing his hand and pulling him along. He wasn't worried about Joey since his friend could hold his own. No the only thing he wanted to do at the moment was find some food. That duel made him hungry and for that last remark Yami would be paying.

Thirty minutes into the battle city tournament duels were happening all across Domino City. However as Joey wondered the streets he had not found one duelist who he wanted to go up against. The low level players would be too boring and he was kind of hoping to run into some familiar faces from Duelist Kingdom. Yugi had let him know of all kind of people who were in the tournament from back in those days and those were the ones he would not mind facing again. Including that idiot Rex, who Joey got the Red Eyes Black Dragon from….

Just as he was thinking that, he happened across another duel going on as he turned down one of the streets. Moving forward he was a little curious to see who was playing and if it was anyone he knew. After squeezing though some of the watchers he was surprised to see just the duelist he was thinking about. Rex was up against someone Joey didn't know and was delivered the final blow as the other guy took out the last bit of Rex's life points.

Rex cursed his luck as he was forced to hand over his rarest card and his puzzle card. All around people kept talking about the duel and Joey listened as they mentioned that Rex hadn't even been able to touch the other duelist life points. Esper Roba, Joey believed he heard was the other guy's name and he sounded like a strong player. The kid across from Rex had blue hair in a bob cut wearing a pink shirt with black stripes and blue jeans. He looked like he might only be in high school, but Joey wasn't one to judge because Yugi even looked like he could still be in middle school.

Once Esper Roba had his prize he turned to the crowd and shouted, "Now… Who will be next to fight me?"

A lot of the duelists in the crowd started to look extremely nervous and backed away. Rex turned nearly running into Joey. His mood changed as he noticed that Joey wasn't backing off in fear like the rest of them. "Don't even think about it Wheeler…" He warned the blond when he noticed Joey had a duel disk also. He was good, but it seemed no one could beat Esper Roba. "He can predict people's strategies. If he can beat me, you don't stand a chance."

"You mean it? You really think I can't beat him?"

"Yeah, no way!"

"Then I will!" Joey spoke up loud enough for Roba to hear and cause Rex to bow his head in shame. But what Rex didn't understand was Joey wanted to become a better duelist and the only way to do that was to go up against some of the toughest opponents. He would not pass up on an opponent no matter what.

Esper Roba watched as the only brave duelist stepped forward, "And who are you?"

"Joey Wheeler's the name and I don't care if you've got ESP! I'll take you on!"

His opponent wasn't fazed by the name as some who had heard about Joey since he came in second at Duelist Kingdom. There was still that level of not being known that hung over Joey's head and he was determined to change that. However showing no interest at all who he was facing Roba pulled out a card from his deck, "Before we duel let's confirm each other's ante. Mine is the rare card Jinzo the Psycho Shocker and of course a puzzle card."

"Mine's the Time Wizard," Joey confirmed showing off his last rare card, "And I got a puzzle card just like you."

"Roger that, let's start the duel shall we?"

As the two shuffled their decks before placing them in their duel disk, a certain duelist who had stuck around to see Joey get his ass kicked decided to speak up, "Hey Joey! What'd you do with my Red Eyes Black Dragon?"

"Oh you mean MY Dragon," Joey reminded Rex turning to look at him, "Somebody stole it 'cuz I screwed up. But I got it back from the guy who stole it but somebody else is holding onto it for me." It was kind of funny to watch the look of utter shock come over Rex as he heard that news, like the card was still his or something.

Now hearing that his card was no longer in Joey's deck, Rex had even more little faith in him, "Give it up loser. You can't beat Roba. It was just luck that you beat me."

Joey on the other hand didn't think so as he faced his opponent with a look of complete determination. No matter what anyone else said did not matter. They both drew five cards with Joey taking his turn first. Looking at his hand Joey was pleased with the draw.

Although before he could take his turn, he looked up when Roba started to hum and placed two fingers on either side of his head, then completely out of nowhere he stated, "I feel the energy of the cosmos passing through my body… becoming one with me. At this time at this place I will win this duel! It is destiny the law of the cosmos."

'This guy is nuts!' were Joey's only thoughts as the guy kept chanting that he would win. This was even freakier then the freaks in robes he had already been dealing with. Wanting to get the little creep to stop Joey placed down his first monster Giltia the D. Knight.

At that point Roba threw out his hand toward Joey's monster and before it could even appear out of its card, the hologram disappeared in a stream of smoke. This caused Joey to nearly flip out wondering what in the world had that guy just done to his monster without even waiting his turn.

The answer came pretty quick as Rex and the crowd around Joey started to bust out laughing at Joey's move. Joey leveled a glare at Rex showing that what just happened was not funny.

Drawing in short deep breath to calm down, Rex wiped a tear from his eye. "Are you brain-dead or what? That wasn't ESP, it was the card you played." He filled the clueless blond in knowing this duel would mostly likely be shorter than his own against Roba. As Joey looked at the card, Rex filled him in, "You can't play a level six monster card right off the bat. You have to sacrifice a lower level monster to summon it. Those are the new rules, don't you know anything moron?"

Joey cursed his luck as he placed the card in the graveyard. His mind had been a big mess since that morning since waking up after what happened the night before. He had been over these new rules a bunch of time with Yugi, but of course when it mattered he forgot them. He was so used to the old ways and was really glad none of his friends were here to see that. Hell he was even more glad his own boyfriend wasn't there to see his epic fail. Seto would probably never let him live it down.

"You wasted a turn…" Roba informed him as he placed his fingers back on his forehead. "If I may give you a word of advice. The card on the very left of your hand is Swordsman of Landstar… why don't you play it?"

Joey actually had to look down and his eyes widen when he saw Roba was right. 'He guessed my hand right on the nail!'

"It's telepathy… my mind is one with the cosmos. I have achieved a state of absolute enlightenment. My awareness transcends time and space. You and I are made of the same particles Joey. I am you and I am your cards." Roba stated trying to freak Joey out even more as he placed one of his own monsters on the field. "I summon Cyber Raider and with no monsters on your side, he'll attack your life points directly!"

Cyber Raider went right at Joey delivering a blow to Joey causing the blond to take a step back. Even though it was just a hologram it had the same feeling as if being hit by a real person. Though the pain only lasted for a second with no lasting effect on the player. Joey's life points dropped down from four thousand to twenty six hundred in one turn.

Roba finished his turn, leaving Joey to start his by drawing a card. 'Under super expert rules if there are no monsters on their field you can straight up attack the other player…' Joey thought already hating the new rules. Kind of made him miss the times when you could only attack if the player had a monster on the field. There were much faster ways to lose now and he would have to think carefully about his moves.

Taking a peak at what he drew Joey saw it was graceful dice and thus that gave him two dice cards in his hand. He placed it in front of the other dice card he had as he tried to figure out what was the best way to go at this nut job.

"Channeling… Channeling…"

"Stop it you nut job!" Joey shouted trying to concentrate, but this little brat wouldn't keep quiet.

Roba smirked as he looked at Joey, "You drew a second graceful dice didn't you? That's what my telepathy detected." To which Joey developed a look of shock on his face at having another card been predicted in this duel. "Does it shock you? My telepathic ability was a gift from the cosmos. Right now I'm communicating with the spirits. That's how I know your hand."

ESP or not, Joey could not afford to lose this duel as he got his best poker face back on and looked at his hand. 'I don't know if its ESP or talking to ghosts or what… but one things for sure he can tell what cards I have…' As he tried to figure out what he could do he realized something he hadn't noticed before. He recalled what Esper Roba said about him having a second graceful dice card but he knew for a fact he only had one in his deck. However in his hand…Realization hit Joey as he placed his Swordsman of Landstar in attack mode. 'Even if ESP is real… I think there's one thing he can't read!'

"And then I play two face-down cards and end my turn." Joey announced hoping that his theory was right.

Roba did not look worried at all as he drew his next card if anything he looked pretty happy with himself. "I sacrifice a level four monster to summon the Fiend Mega Cyber!"

"Activate magic card!" Joey called as soon as Roba's monster appeared on the field. His Graceful Dice flipped up on the field and the little winged man holding the dice appeared. It dropped the die on the field letting it roll. If the roll was five or higher Joey would be able to win in this turn.

They both watched as the dice almost stopped on a six before it flipped again landing on a three. This left the Swordsman with only fifteen hundred attack points still lower than Fiend Mega Cyber's twenty two hundred attack points.

"Too bad even with fifteen hundred attack points your monster is no match for mine!" Roba smugly said as he sent his creature to attack Joey's monster.

However Joey wasn't done yet as he smirked glad to see Roba falling into one of his traps. The attack activated his other card which happened to a trap. Skull Dice not another Graceful Dice flipped up onto the field the little devil appearing and dropping the one die it was holding. Roba was in for a ruin wakening as the die stopped with a five and taking away attack points from Fiend Mega Cyber. The monster went from twenty two hundred to a weak little four hundred and forty points.

Since Fiend Mega Cyber had already been called to attack, the Swordsman had no problem taking it out in one hit. Along with it came down Roba's life points, Joey being the first to be able to even touch them. And Joey wasn't done there as he squared his opponent down with a glare.

"The reason why you thought I had two graceful dice in my hand is 'cause the cards were on top of one another, so you only saw the word 'Dice'. You don't have telepathy!" Joey growled out never likening those who cheated as he stated rather loudly, "You got some spies looking at my hand!"

On a rooftop a building away from the duel behind Joey sat four brothers who looked just like Esper Roba. One of the older ones had the littlest brother on his back that was fast asleep. Another one was wearing a microphone with the one beside him looking through binoculars.

"Uh-oh he found out…" The oldest said as the one with the headset relayed what he was hearing.

"You idiot," The one with binoculars hissed at the one with the headset, "Why didn't you guess it might be devil dice?! Now our big brother's gonna yell at me!"

"S-Sorry…" The other one with the headset said while covering up the mic so their brother down below wouldn't hear what was happening. "What should we do?"

"Roba can handle it from here, we may as well stop." The oldest said causing the other two to look up at him, "Our big brother's a good duelist. He can win even without our help." He had a smiled on his face to assure the others glad they didn't have to deal with this anymore. Someone had finally found them out like he thought would happen. But of course his big brother wouldn't listen and his younger brothers were all for this idea. Now they just could sit and watch Roba fight on his own.

"What do you mean 'Spies'? Who pray tell? Somebody in the audience?" Roba asked Joey pretending to not have a clue what he was talking about, "Don't make baseless accusations Joey… You've only won one turn. A guess with no basis is called speculation! I'll predict the future using my powers and it'll come true one hundred percent. I will win this duel and Joey you will lose. I've never lost a duel in my life. Furthermore you are an amateur, I have more experience therefore the future is certain."

"I don't know what's gonna come in the future," Joey said after letting Roba say his spill, "For example if I go down this street and I turn at the corner I might be able to see the next town, maybe there's a lady I don't know carrying a baby and shopping… That's about as much I can see into the future. But there's a guy somewhere in this town who's waiting to fight me, as soon as we get to the finals. Somewhere, sometime I'll meet him and we'll fight. I know it and I'll fight 'cause I believe in that future!"

Esper smirked, "Well I will smash that stupid future of yours! I don't need to use my powers to beat a duelist of your level!" He looked at the cards in his hands pleased to see the powerful cards. 'I still have Jinzo the Psycho Shocker and I've already figured out the perfect way to kill you.' He thought to himself as he placed a faced down card and ended his turn.

'Yes! He didn't play any monsters. I can attack him directly and just wail away at his life points.' Joey drew his next card and was pleased with what he got, but he made sure to hid his hand in case there were really some spies out there. He wasn't going to completely rule them out yet. "I summon the Alligator Warrior!"

And now since Esper Roba had no monsters on the field Joey sent both his monsters on the attack. Alligator Sword took the first hit taking out more of Roba's life points bringing him down to a thousand four hundred and forty points. Then it was Landstar's turn and it would be all over but Roba wasn't done yet.

"Sorry that's all you get!" Roba shouted as he played his faced down card mind control. "Ha ha! Now your warrior is my slave for two turns."

However the move didn't leave Joey in shock but confusion. 'Why didn't he set off the trap when the first monster attacked…?' It would have saved Roba's life points that way.

"If I had used mind control on your first monster it would have been a draw… I wouldn't have taken any damage but that wouldn't give me what I wanted…" Roba filled Joey in but not giving away his plan as he added. "Joey I need your monster alive…"

On the side lines Rex knew just what Roba was planning but he wasn't about to tell Joey that as he watched the blond duelist. It looked like he was still trying to piece it together in his head but couldn't quite figure out the plan.

Joey was still a little frustrated as one of his monsters got taken away from him. 'Fine, I use my own trap against him!' He placed on trap card face down and ended his turn.

Esper still held that same smirk as he started his turn, "I'm going to cast a spell…" He placed down the spell card Brain control using it to take Joey's other monster. Joey could only watch as Roba stole both his monsters. "That's right… My aim was to steal both your monsters to summon an even greater creature!"

The ESP duelists used both of Joey's monsters as sacrifices to call forth his rarest card. "Say hello to Jinzo the Psycho Shocker!" And before Joey could even think about feeling safe with his trap card Roba explained something else. "Jinzo possesses a special ability… He can detect traps and destroys them."

Jinzo did just as Roba said taking out Joey's only protection and leaving the duelist defenseless. Sadly as an added bonus Joey wouldn't be able to play any future trap cards so long as Jinzo was around.

"Well then now that I've eliminated your trap, I have no reason not to just kill you! Jinzo direct attack on the player!"

Joey had no way to protect himself as he took Jinzo's attack straight on dropping his life points down even lower leaving him with only two hundred left.

Roba laughed at him, "Do you give up? You may as well you've basically lost!"

"Give up…? You wish!" Joey growled as he stood his ground and faced the player across from him. The look in his eyes showed he was far from giving up no matter how bad the situation looked, "If I give up how can I get to my future?"

Sakura: Done! Well not with the story just the chapter… It took a while to figure out where I wanted to end this one. Next chapter will have the finishing of Joey's duel and some other fun stuff along with the return of Seto and Mokuba.

Yumi: Please Review!